What is amazing is that people would rather live like this, and have four feet of grass between them and their neighbors, than in a place twice as big with a shared wall…
Can’t watch a movie past 10pm without my neighbors complaining. I can’t have people over for a party. God i hate having shared walls. Never again if I can help it.
To each their own. I do hear all sorts of sounds coming from my neighbors in my apartment. From moaning to phone alarm vibrating, sounds of various objects hitting each other, even arguing sometimes.
Not to mention some people open their doors and windows when cooking, allegedly for the draft to get in and get the smell out of the kitchen (don’t know why they do this, just open your damn window and that’s it). And when the air goes the opposite way, the hallway of the building is a mix of various smells of whatever they cook.
Oh, by the way, did I mention I need to take the elevator to reliably reach my apartment?
here in sweden we do this amazing thing called “actually building things solidly”, our apartment blocks are largely solid concrete and the only thing i hear from my neighbours is when their kids drop what i can only assume to be anvils onto the floor, which results in a faint thunk.
these apartment buildings are part of the million programme back in the 60’s, where we churned out tons and tons of standardized high density housing eras much like your commie blocks.
So it’s not a problem of being cheap or communist, it’s a problem with effective execution.
And fwiw communist housing tends to generally be one of the better places to live, provided it’s not that one fucked up place in russia where it’s just highrises in a sea of parking lots.
@Swedneck I live in a communist era neighborhood myself, so I know how it is to live there. It’s generally great, but the execution of the buildings was rather poor (mine included). Some say it was for the better surveillance of the inhabitants, others say it was just rushed building. Whatever is the case, it’s still not pleasant knowing that you risk being heard by all the neighbors when you do the most normal noise.
And I like Russian blocks as well, provided they are those Hruschocskas (or Plattenbeau?) that are 5 storey high or less. We have some as well. The areas they’re in is generally really green with tall trees, so it’s really pleasant.
We generally use the term “commie block” to describe buildings during that area, but I included buildings raised after the '90s as well because the developers try to eschew regulations when building, so their quality is even poorer sometimes. That’s not to mean that all buildings during these times have thin walls or floors either tho.
It’s great to hear that the buildings where you live were raised with more attention to details like these though. Probably if I’d visit/live in one a bit I’d change my opinion about our buildings from that time as well. 😁
What is amazing is that people would rather live like this, and have four feet of grass between them and their neighbors, than in a place twice as big with a shared wall…
A shared wall can be hell, and add on top the shared hallway, basement and trash containers.
I think they’re referring to terraced housing
Oh, right. Yeah, that alleviates some of those problems, but for my personal situation it would still be worse than my own house:
The trick is to build houses out of double-insulated brick walls and concrete, not sticks of wood and cardboard.
The trick is to not build buildings out of wood and drywall.
Can’t watch a movie past 10pm without my neighbors complaining. I can’t have people over for a party. God i hate having shared walls. Never again if I can help it.
To each their own. I do hear all sorts of sounds coming from my neighbors in my apartment. From moaning to phone alarm vibrating, sounds of various objects hitting each other, even arguing sometimes.
Not to mention some people open their doors and windows when cooking, allegedly for the draft to get in and get the smell out of the kitchen (don’t know why they do this, just open your damn window and that’s it). And when the air goes the opposite way, the hallway of the building is a mix of various smells of whatever they cook.
Oh, by the way, did I mention I need to take the elevator to reliably reach my apartment?
here in sweden we do this amazing thing called “actually building things solidly”, our apartment blocks are largely solid concrete and the only thing i hear from my neighbours is when their kids drop what i can only assume to be anvils onto the floor, which results in a faint thunk.
@Swedneck that’s great. Here in Romania most apartments have this issue, especially those built in communism and after.
these apartment buildings are part of the million programme back in the 60’s, where we churned out tons and tons of standardized high density housing eras much like your commie blocks.
So it’s not a problem of being cheap or communist, it’s a problem with effective execution.
And fwiw communist housing tends to generally be one of the better places to live, provided it’s not that one fucked up place in russia where it’s just highrises in a sea of parking lots.
@Swedneck I live in a communist era neighborhood myself, so I know how it is to live there. It’s generally great, but the execution of the buildings was rather poor (mine included). Some say it was for the better surveillance of the inhabitants, others say it was just rushed building. Whatever is the case, it’s still not pleasant knowing that you risk being heard by all the neighbors when you do the most normal noise.
And I like Russian blocks as well, provided they are those Hruschocskas (or Plattenbeau?) that are 5 storey high or less. We have some as well. The areas they’re in is generally really green with tall trees, so it’s really pleasant.
We generally use the term “commie block” to describe buildings during that area, but I included buildings raised after the '90s as well because the developers try to eschew regulations when building, so their quality is even poorer sometimes. That’s not to mean that all buildings during these times have thin walls or floors either tho.
It’s great to hear that the buildings where you live were raised with more attention to details like these though. Probably if I’d visit/live in one a bit I’d change my opinion about our buildings from that time as well. 😁